(613) 843-0705 | (866) 289-0705

Shaping Steel: Updating “Forged in Stone” for Competitive Play.

It’s Commander Night at my LGS and I’d like to be headed there, but it’s been snowing all day and the snowplows haven’t been by yet. This is not a time to Brave the Elements, this is a time to be sensible, make a cup of tea and do the next best thing. Write an article about a mono-white deck. Irony.

In my most recent article, we discussed tuning up “Built from Scratch” for competitive commander play. Today, we’re going to give “Forged in Stone” the same treatment.

After I read Cassidy Silver’s article “Fat Stacks – Forged in Stone (and Fur)” he basically came to the same conclusion that I did after a superficial glance. We both thought that dropping Nahiri and making Jazal Goldmane the commander, while focusing tokens might be stronger than playing Nahiri at all. However, after playing the deck out of the box a few times, I have come to the conclusion that is not the case. Nahiri is actually very powerful, but has to be built around.

Let’s take a look at Nahiri, shall we? She costs 3WW, which is slightly above the 4 casting cost we usually associate with playable planeswalkers. However, this is commander, so I think we can forgive that a little. Her +2 protects herself by making a Kor Soldier, which another one of the things we look for. However, to get full value out of this ability, we really need to have an equipment in play and I think that’s where the deck falls short out of the box. Equipment tutors are absolutely necessary. Her -2 lets you put an equipment from your hand or graveyard into play, which is pretty huge with equipments (which will be destroyed, at least until people start playing exile artifact effects) and Batterskull. Finally, her -10 (which should leave her in play if you’ve protected her) gives you the almighty Stoneforged Blade, which is sick. Now the best ultimate in the game, but it is, very, very good. These effects make Nahiri a completely reasonable card to build around. I think the best way to build the deck is to add tutors and build it like a “Voltron” style deck, except you can stick the equipment on any token. Your backup plan is token beatdown.

“Some blades seek their own wielders.”

I’d like to dissect the stock decklist the same way we did with “Built from Scratch”. Here’s the list for reference:

So like last time, we’ll go ahead and delete the last two categories right away. However, we’re also going to delete almost all the equipment, because this is all budget equipment and we’re not on a budget.

“The crucible yields what you have forged in your mind. You need only reach in and draw the masterwork forth.” – Wahara, Keeper of the Crucible

(TEDitor’s Note: I’m having an extremely hard time not adding a Destiny reference in here…)

Angel of Jubilation: A 3/3 flier for 4 is not a bad rate. The obvious reason for running this card is the anthem effect. The ability on the card might disrupt your opponents in some cases too (Looking at you Daretti…)

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: This card is fantastic in nearly any deck, but looks even better in a token deck. If we ever decide to drop the equipment theme, she’ll likely be the commander for this deck.

Spear of Heliod: An even better Glorious Anthem. This one kills guys. I love playing Dread in black, seems like a great effect to have in this deck.

Batterskull: Obviously ridiculously strong. I also really like the ability to return this to our hand if the Germ dies, then cheat it out with Nahiri’s -2. I also really look forward to using Masterwork of Ingenuity to make a second Batterskull.